The Ameth Chronicle

Guide to Ameth

Overview

Ameth is an underground city in an undisclosed location made possible by the amazing properties of the River which runs through the tunnels outside the main city. Each layer has a gate into tunnels outside the main cavern. The top layer of the city is shown as the website background image. There are five similar layers underneath it. Each layer is highly urbanized, autonomous (the Hexarchy is the ruling body governing Ameth as a whole), and has an advanced technology level. In order, they are:

Each layer consists of a central ring, an inner ring, and an outer ring. The central ring is on or around the Great Pillar in the center of Ameth. The inner ring is attached to the central ring on great struts. The outer ring is attached to the wall of the cavern, made of an unknown material indestructible to normal tools. All together each layer has a surface area of several sq mi.

Beneath them is a layer of farmland. Miles of Tunnels, many uncharted, run beyond the gates of Ameth. Most of the tunnels are made of the same unbreakable rock of the cavern, but certain restricted areas have been reserved for mining.

Technology

Transport between layers is acheived through either tunnels beyond the outer wall, the central pillar, or recently via airships. Vehicles within layers are generally motorcycles, as much of the city can’t accommodate wider vehicles. Some routes are designed for trucks and buses, and some layers have installed light rail. Grutas dos Guimarães has installed rail in most of its agricultural tunnels to support food transport. Atlantis is experimenting with airships to lift people and cargo between layers.

Weapons run the range all the way from knives to military grade rail guns and beyond. Drones, autonomous robots, and cybernetic augmentation are starting to arrive on the scene. Availability is limited as all the governments want to keep the good stuff for themselves, but don’t let a little thing like legality stop you.

Medicine has atrophied as a science in many ways, as simply drinking from the River cures/prevents most diseases. Still, sideline projects from augmentation research has led to advances in trauma treatments and other surgeries, while genetic bio-science has led to cures/treatments of congential disorders.

Agriculture has largely been about how to best make use of the properties of the River, which Grutas dos Guimarães has been a leader in. Recently, Atlantis has been making breakthroughs with hydroponic yeast tank based food productions which could signal a shift in how Ameth is fed.

Computers are ubiquitous. The whole of Ameth is linked with broadband and wifi. Artificial intelligence isn’t quite here yet, but they’re working on it. Older communication methods like television and radio are still present, although actual broadcasts are hard to transmit between layers.

Society

Society depends on which layer you live in, but there are a few general trends. Unemployment is getting to be an issue, with the automation of the workforce there is a split developing between the well-off high-tech crowd with relevant skills and the larger impoverished group without them. Reactions differ. Ummah Wāhidah restricts tech use in certain fields to ensure employment, Rainbow Valley has a welfare state, while Baojia Caozi drafts the unemployed for military and/or large construction projects.

Crime increases with unemployment, and gangs based on drug dealing, human trafficking, prostitution, and whatever else is illegal in a given layer are significant political players. High-tech espionage gives law enforcement tools to crack down on them, but corruption and counterespionage tech tend to even the playing field.

Living conditions are usually cramped, except for the upper-classses. People pack into skyscraper residences, often a couple thousand people per building in spaces no larger than studio apartments. Those buidings can often be considered their own neighborhoods. Some are nicer than others. Some are bad enough you can’t count on the police going into them.

Politics

The relations between the layers are generally peaceful. The Hexarchy maintains the peace and establishes a few clear interlayer rules with it’s special enforcement squads. Portugese is the lingua franca, a relic of Grutas dos Guimarães dominating the agricultural trade during the layers’ population explosion a few generations ago.

Ummah Wāhidah was formed when Baojia Caozi’s expansion into the uninhabited layer they found below them was interrupted by a religious rebellion. Ever since the rebels were clearly holding the layer and the inter-layer government intervened, a peace has existed. Although since Baojia Caozi and Ummah Wāhidah are both the top weapon manufacturers, it may be an uneasy peace.

Peaceful or not, there are always power plays, espionage, and political intrigue as the ruling factions seek to stay in power within their own layer and increase their influence over Ameth.

Layer Details

Notes:

All figures approximate and may be changed at any time to reflect the theme attempting to be conveyed.

Population demographics do not include fluctuating populations from other layers.

Grutas dos Guimarães

Farmland and Tunnels

Beneath the cities is about 3 sq. mi. of farmland worked and controlled by Grutas dos Guimarães. There are also miles of tunnels and caverns adjacent to the city which are made fertile by the River. Those are the charted ones. As you travel farther from Ameth proper, the rock composition changes to more mundane minerals. In those areas, tunnels are restricted by order of the Hexarchy. They are known to be dangerous, often covered in heavy vegetation, with rumors of deadly animals and worse.

The tunnels extend in all directions at least 100 miles and even further downwards. There have been reports of explorers going further, but travel gets weird past that distance and no one has been able to exactly reproduce one of those. Assuming a sphere, a minimum 100 mile radius in three-dimensional space allows over 4 million cubic miles to consider (as always, numbers subject to drastic revision to maintain theme.)

There are believed to be werewolves below Ameth, with sightings closer. People who believe in them suggest they moved downwards to avoid entanglement with Ameth interests.

Central Pillar

The Central pillar has a spiral path down the center large enough for transport trucks. It also has several caverns and chambers. One such complex has been renovated to be the headquarters of the Hexarchy, the inter-layer ruling body.